What’s most frustrating is the fact that demons are the only way to die. There is no penalty for failing an investigation. If you put two clues together wrong you lose a “badge” but this is just an arbitrary rating. A game whose entire premise is “solve this mystery” doesn’t punish you for screwing up when solving the mystery!

Finally, there are the side quests. While you look for your murderer, you will find other ghosts you are looking for their murderers. Unfortunately, it’s hard to look at these side quests as compelling. You are quite literally on a mission to save yourself from a hellish afterlife and reunite with your long lost dead wife. You don’t have time to search for six water boilers or whatever will but random Joe Ghostypants to rest. You also don’t really get anything for doing these side quests, so you might as well just pass them up.

I really wanted to like Murdered: Soul Suspect more than I did. The graphics are awesome. The voice actors do a fantastic job. The environments are interesting, especially when you see the ghostly versions of old Salem overlapped over the modern day version. The story is genuinely interesting and kept me playing far after the fun had drained out of the game. But in all honesty, I cannot recommend it. With a couple tweaks, this could have been an awesome game, but as it stands Murderer: Soul Suspect is dead on arrival.

ByAngelo M. D’Argenio
Contributing Writer
Date: June 4, 2014

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

4.0

GraphicsI actually like Murdered’s aesthetics, but they don’t make up for the poor gameplay.

2.5

ControlThe PC version’s controls seemed to constantly spaz out. Also many times the confirm button was mislabeled as right click when I had to press enter.

4.0

Music / Sound FX / Voice ActingThe actors do a great job with a quite enjoyable script.

2.0

Play ValueThe fun faded quite quickly and soon the game became a slog.

2.5

Overall Rating - AvverageNot an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend

0.1 - 1.9 = Avoid

2.5 - 2.9 = Average

3.5 - 3.9 = Good

4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy

2.0 - 2.4 = Poor

3.0 - 3.4 = Fair

4.0 - 4.4 = Great

5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

A compelling and twisting storyline supported by a great cast of intriguing characters to make you constantly question the secrets that Salem hides, Motion capture and voice acting provides an incredibly realistic and believable experience.

Move freely from one haunting location to the next in this brooding city with deep-rooted ties to the supernatural and mysterious, Even if you have completed your investigation, return to previous scenes to follow new leads.

Survive powerful demonic spirits that devour souls in the belief that they can regain their own as you strategically use supernatural abilities to evade and outwit them before they can tear away your soul forever.

Investigate by using supernatural skills, possess people to read their minds, Follow leads by walking-through walls, teleporting and discover new information by revealing memories or interrogating the dead, Use poltergeist skills to create distractions.

Seek-out hundreds of collectibles, side-quests and cases from Salem's citizens past to learn facts about the town and its people, improve your detective ranking and help you piece together the truth about the killer.